Barbless fishing spear



Dec.. 9, 1969 v B. JQ SPANN 3,482,349

B ARBLESS FISHING SPEAR.

Original Filed March 6, 1967 BY PM L M@ TATU? E?. n. A2521, L

Milla:Mro'RNif)3A 1 United States Patent O 3,482,349 BARBLESS FISHINGSPEAR Bob J. Spann, Suite 900, Wilson Bldg., Corpus Christi, Tex. 78401Continuation of application Ser. No. 620,817, Mar. 6,

1967, which is a continuation-impart of application Ser.

No. 421,734 Dec. 28, 1964. This application Apr. 4,

1969, Ser. No. 814,234

Int. Cl. A01k 81/04 U.S. Cl. 43-6 3 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE Afishing spear has a barbless impaling tine joined to one of an elongatedhandle. In one form in the tine has an intermediate helical portion, inanother form the tine has an intermediate C-shaped offset, and in stillanother form the tine includes a straight shank portion encircled by ahelical portion.

Cross-references to related applications This application is acontinuation of my now abandoned co-pending application, Serial No.620,817, filed March 6, 1967, entitled Barbless Fishing Spear which inturn was a continuation-in-part of my now abandoned co-pendingapplication, Serial No. 421,734, filed December 28, 1964, entitledBarbless Fishing Spear.

Background of the invention A sport having a relatively wide appeal isthat of hunting fish, frogs, and other similar game (all of which willhereinafter be referred to as fish for purposes of simplicity) withspears or gigs. Quite often it is necessary for a spear fisherman tohave a number of gigs or spears for the various types of sport fish.Some require a plurality of tines with barbs of varying sizes. For otherfish, a single tine is sufficient due to the fact the fish are smallenough to be retained by one tine. The necessity of having more than onespear is, of course, undesirable. Some states prohibit the use of barbedspears and gigs in the taking of certain fish. There is, therefore, anecessity for a spear or gig that has no barb but that is capable ofholding or releasing a fish.

Another problem that has persisted in this field is that of making aspear that would retain the fish, preventing it from slipping off of thespear, yet would not result in extensive damage to the fish. Such damagewould result, for example, where barbs are used on the tines of thespears and would occur when spearing the fish or when attempting tolater remove the fish from the spear.

An additional problem that also persists is that of releasing dangerousfish that have been speared by accident or mistake. An example of thisis found in the sport of floundering which consists of spearingflounders that have burrowed into the said and mud in shallow water.Sting rays also burrow into the sand in a similar manner and may quiteeasily be mistaken for fiounder. One experienced in this sport willrealize that spearing a fish does not usually kill it. As is readilyapparent, therefore, releasing such as a sting ray from the spear couldbe quite dangerous to the person if it is necessary to get close to ortouch the sting ray.

Summary of' the present invention The present invention utilizes meanson a spear or gig which will allow one to spear and retain any fishnormally hunted in this manner. This is accomplished in the present-invention -by use of a lateral offset portion in the tine or tines.Thus, when a fish is speared, by manipulating the spear, the body of thefish will slide onto this offset por- 3,482,349 Patented Dec. 9, 1969er; ICC

tion. This will prevent the fish from Ifalling off of the tine. Theseoffsets may be looped-shaped, C-shaped, helically or spirally-shaped, ormerely a straight lateral bend in the tine. Other configurations willcome readily to mind. To remove undesired or dangerous fish, all oneneed do is twist and shake the spear and the fish -will fall off.

As will be seen, no barbs are used on the present nvention, and the tinepresents an essentially straight, smooth surface. Relatively littledamage is done to the fish with the present invention in comparison tothe damage that would be done when using barbs, lboth in spearing thefish and in removing the spear from the fish.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention t0 provide abarbless hunting spear having means to retain speared fish on the spear,but 'without causing undue darnage to the sh.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a barbless huntingspear having retention means for the speared fish from which the fishmay be easily and quickly released by mere manipulation of the spearitself without the necessity of touching the fish.

Another object is to provide such a spear having laterally extendingportions in the tine as the retention means, whereby the tine presents asmooth unbroken surface.

Other and further objects, features and advantages will fbe apparentfrom the following description of a presently preferred embodiment ofthe invention, given for the purpose of disclosure, taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawing.

Brief description of the drawing In the attached drawing, like characterreferences designate like parts throughout the -several views, whichviews are as Ifollows:

FIGURE l is a side view of a first embodiment of the present invention,the spear handle being only partially shown for simplicity,

FIGURE 2 is a side view of the second embodiment of the presentinvention, the spear handle, once again, vbeing only partially shown forsimplicity, and

FIGURE 3 is a. side view of a third embodiment of the present invention,again the spear handle being only partially shown.

Description of the preferred embodiments Turning now to FIGURE 1 of theattached drawing, one of the preferred embodiments is shown in which thelaterally offset portion is generally C or looped-shaped. Thisembodiment consists essentially of a handle portion 10, which is onlypartially shown, and a tine generally indicated by the numeral 12.

The tine 12 is made up of three portions. The first portion is the shank14, which connects the tine 12 with the handle 10. The sharpened tip 16is, of course, located on the free end of the tine. The shank and tipare generally parallel to the longitudinal axis of the handle.Connecting the tip 16 to the shank portion 14 is the connecting portion18 which contains the lateral offsets 20. As can be seen in FIGURE l,the tine presents a smooth, unbroken surface, although it is curved asis shown.

In the use of this embodiment, the fish is speared in a normal manner.By proper manipulation of the spear, working the fish against the bottomof the body of water, the body of the fish may be worked into thelaterally offset portions 20. The lowermost lateral offset 20 willprevent the fish from wiggling or falling off the tine. If desired, thefish may be worked on past the loop to the uppermost lateral offset 20or onto the shank 14.

In this manner, the fish will be securely fastened on the spear beforethe spear is withdrawn from the bottom of the body of Water. Inaddition, the action of manipulating the spear to work the body of thefish onto the upper or offset portions of the spear, will not causeundue damage to the fish due to the continuously smooth surface of thetine.

To remove undesired or dangerous fish, it is only necessary, once again,to manipulate or twist the spear to release it from the tine. It is,accordingly, not necessary to get dangerously close to or touch the fishto remove it from the spear.

Turning now to FIGURE 2, the second embodiment will be discussed. Onceagain, this embodiment consists of a handle portion which is onlypartially shown. The tine generally indicated by the numeral 22 is alsocomposed of three sections, the shank portion 24, the tip 26 and theconnecting portion 30. In this embodiment, the connecting portion 30 ishelically or spirally-shaped. This connecting portion has, of course, aplurality of laterally extending portions due to its helical or spiralconfiguration. In fact, essentially the entire length of the helicalportion 30 may be considered as being lateral to the longitudinal axisof the tip 26. As will be understood, the connecting portion 30 may becomposed of one loop as shown in FIGURE 2, or a number of loops, as maybe desired.

The operation of this embodiment is essentially the same as with theembodiment shown in FIGURE l. It may be readily seen that, to move thebody of a fish onto a laterally offset portion 30, it is only necessaryto rotate the spear handle 10 as one presses the speared fish againstthe bottom of the body of water. In this manner, the tine 22 will, ineffect, screw itself to the body of the fish. Once again, due to thesmooth and unbroken surface of tine 22, a minimum amount of damage willbe done to the fish as it is moved into the helically or spirally-shapedportion 30. In like manner, the fish may be removed by merely rotatingthe handle in the opposite direction.

Turning now to FIGURE 3, the third embodiment disclosed herein will bediscussed. This embodiment consists of a handle portion 10 which is,once again, only partially shown. A first tine 32 extends from a tip ofthe handle and is an essentially straight tine having a sharpened tip34. A second tine, generally indicated at 36, also extends from the tipof the handle 10. This second tine is formed of a shank portion 38 and ahelically or spirally shaped portion 40. As with the embodiment shown inFIGURE 2, the number of loops in portion 40 may be varied as desired. Itshould once again be understood that the lateral offsets used in thisembodiment may be C shaped, looped shaped, or merely a straight lateralbend in the tine. The portion 40 terminates in a sharpened point 44, andhas lateral portions 42 similar to portions 30 in the last embodiment.As can be seen from the drawing, the first or straight tine 32 extendsthrough the coils of the helical portion 40 of the second tine 36.

In using this embodiment, the fish is speared in the normal manner. Toget the body of the fish on to the lateral offsets 42, the spear isrotated as was discussed in the embodiment shown in FIGURE 2. The bodyof the fish will become impaled by the sharpened point 44 of the secondtine 36. Further rotation will cause the coils of the helical portion 40to pass through the body of the fish, thereby providing means to preventthe fish from falling from the spear. The fish is removed in the samemanner as was discussed in removing fish from the embodiment shown inFIGURE 2. The embodiment of FIGURE 3 does have the disadvantage ofcausing'some additional damage to the fish in comparison with the firsttwo embodiments, due to the fact that in this last embodiment, two tineswill enter the fish. Nevertheless, because these tines are, once again,smooth surfaced and have no barbs, this damage to the fish is maintainedat a minimum.

A fourth embodiment, as previously mentioned is comprised of a shank, atip and a laterally offset portion. The offset portion in thisembodiment is merely a lateral bend in the tine with no curvature,excepting, of course, at the bends connecting the shank, tip and offsetportions. It is, in effect, simply the top half of the offset portion ofthe FIGURE 1 embodiment. The operation of this embodiment is, onceagain, the same as with the first discussed embodiment. As previouslypointed out, this type of offset may be used with the double tineembodiments, one of which is shown in FIGURE 3.

As is seen, therefore, the present invention, as exemplified by theembodiments disclosed herein, achieves the objectives set forth at theoutset. A spear has been devised which has no barbs but which has meansin the form of lateral offsets to secure and retain the speared fish andgame. Accordingly, no unnecessary damage is done to the game as it isspeared or as it is removed from the spear. In addition, with thepresent invention, the game may be removed from the spear by merelymanipulating the spear handle and without the necessity of touching thespeared game.

The present invention, therefore, is well adapted to carry out theobjects and attain the ends and advantages mentioned as well as othersinherent therein.

I claim:

1. A barbless spear for use in spearing a fish and the like comprising,

an elongated handle whereby the user can hold the spear and spear fishat a safe distance therefrom, said handle having a longitudinal axis,

at least one tine extending outwardly from one end of said handle,

a first portion of said tine extending generally parallel to said axis,said first portion being further defined a tip of sufiicient length topenetrate through said fish,

and

a second portion of said tine being laterally offset from said axis,said second portion being further defined as,

a helical portion located adjacent the tip and positioned between thetip and said handle.

2. The invention of claim 1 and including,

a shank connected to the helical portion and extending between thehelical portion and said one end of the handle.

3. The invention of claim 1 wherein,

the length of the tip'is greater than the length of the helical portionmeasured along the handle axis ex tended to said helical portion.

UNITED STATES PATENTS References Cited 179,090 6/ 1876 Barnes 8l-3.45350,702 10/ 1886 Schollhorn 8l-3.45 X 796,413 8/ 1905 Butler 43-6880,807 3/1908 Menkin 294-61 X 1,446,277 2/ 1923 Stafford 81-3.491,657,728 1/ 1928 Untiedt 81-3.45 X 2,619,371 11/1952 Kroenlein 294-613,162,475 12/1964 Van Allen 294-61 X 3,216,141 v11/1965 Walger 436FOREIGN PATENTS 22,472 1906 Great Britain.

WARNER H. CAMP, Primary Examiner

